That Boy
by RainbowVeins1612
Summary: Harry Potter has a twin sister who's grown tired of being left behind. When Harry chooses his friends over her its the final straw and Jessica Potter finds herself alone and crying, who should show up but Draco Malfoy? And he's looking to make a deal.
I couldn't stop crying, I wasn't usually the type of girl to cry but at that moment in time I was stressed and angry and upset and all my emotions were erupting from me in the form of big, wet tears that wouldn't stop no matter how much I tried. They dropped onto the parchment in front of me, causing the ink I had written my name and essay title in to run and smudge, I tried to blot it away with the sleeve of my cardigan but it only made it worse which made me cry more.

Thankfully the library was quiet this evening, only a few students mingling among the shelves and the table I sat at was big enough for ten but I had it all to myself. I was startled when a tissue fell down from above my head and landed on the text book open in front of me. I picked it up and looked around, wondering where it had come from. No one around me looked to be at all interested in myself but on a small table a little away from my own a boy put a wand away in his pocket. I looked back at the tissue and then used it to wipe my eyes, no doubt I had make up smudges around them but I was too emotionally exhausted to care. It couldn't possibly have been _that boy_ who had sent me the tissue, he wasn't the type to care about other people's feelings, especially not _my_ feelings.

 _That boy_ was Draco Malfoy, he and my twin brother Harry had been enemies since day one so I was, of course, an enemy by association. Still, no one else had given any hint of being the one to send me the tissue. I scribbled two words – thank you – onto the bottom of my parchment and tore it off. I screwed the note into a ball and instead of using magic to gently send it over, I used the good old muggle method of throwing. I had very good aim and the little ball of paper hit its target on the side of Draco's head. If it had been anything but paper it probably would have hurt.

I could imagine the look of anguish on Draco's face, even if I could only see his profile and the way he furiously unscrewed the note, his face softened the tiniest bit when his read my straight-to-the-point message. He looked up at me and gave me the smallest of nods. That would be the end of it I assumed and went back to looking at my unwritten essay page. A moment later the chair beside me scraped across the stone floor and _that boy_ dropped down into the seat.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked as I slid my things across the table so he couldn't reach them.

"Where's your twin and his friends, doesn't seem like a typical Potter move to leave his sister alone crying?" Draco questioned, "Or have you realised what an utter disappointment he really is and your crying because you're related to him?" He added. I scowled at him though it probably didn't make much of an impact with my eyes red from crying and tracks of ruined mascara running down my cheeks.

"I'm not speaking to him." I said and turned away from him, I began to scribble on my parchment, little doodles, not words since I couldn't begin to understand my homework.

Draco let a low whistle slide out of his lips, "Trouble in paradise?" He said with a chuckle, "What's Potter done that's so bad?"

"It's none of your business." I snapped, still scribbling away as fresh tears threatened to pour from my eyes.

"Calm down," Draco said, "I only thought I could help, I'm sure whatever it is Potter was supposed to do I can do it?"

" _You?_ " I asked, "Why would you possibly want to help _me?_ _"_

"Because it would annoy the hell out of your brother and while watching people cry is usually quite fun, you've been doing it for almost an hour and even _I_ am not mean enough to think that's okay." I was quite speechless. He wasn't wrong about how much it would annoy Harry, in fact it would probably make him feel very guilty and annoyed with himself about leaving me alone in the first place.

On the other hand, it would mean sharing a secret with Draco that I wasn't sure I wanted even my closest friends to know, not that I had many friends that is. After thinking it over for a few seconds I decided that I really did need help and annoying Harry would maybe make me feel better...

"C'mon Potter, I don't have all day, do you want my help or not?" Draco interrupted my thoughts in his usual self-important way.

"Yes," I said and shoved my text book towards him. "I need you to read these four pages to me," I flicked between the pages I was already on and the two on the next page over. Draco's eyes skimmed across the words and then lifted to rest on me.

"Your fifteen years old and you can't even read?" He questioned, not in his usual mocking tone but in a way that just seemed shocked and possibly a little worried.

I shrugged at him, "I can read, just not all these big words and the letters jump around and get all mixed up sometimes," I said the words fast, half in hopes he wouldn't hear them properly and half because I was a little embarrassed and didn't want to explain it. "Just read it." I told him firmly and to my surprised, he did. In total he read all four pages to me four times, and also explained the few parts I didn't fully understand.

It took another hour to finish my homework essay but in the end I thought it was quite good. Draco insisted he read it over before allowing me to tell anyone he'd helped me do it, "Well apart from some atrocious spelling mistakes it's actually not bad, you're actually kind of smart for a boneheaded Gryffindor." He concluded and I opted to ignore the insult in favour of accepting the compliment. "The next thing to do," Draco began and I was certain he was going to make me rewrite my essay but he didn't, "Is figure out what I'm going to call you, because lets face it, calling both you and your brother, Potter, gets highly confusing."

I almost laughed, in fact a little smile did creep onto my face. "Why not, Jess? Its what all my friends call me?" I suggested, and he looked at me like I had just punched him in the stomach.

"You and I are under no circumstances friends." He pointed out and I nodded.

"Of course not, what was I thinking." I replied sarcastically. "What about Jessica then?" I suggested, "It's my name but it's not shortened and I honestly don't like it very much. I feel like I'm in trouble whenever anyone uses it." Draco contemplated it for a while before nodding.

"That'll do." He agreed. "so, Jessica," He said trying out my name on his tongue, he nodded once again, "Why didn't, Potter come and help you with this?" He questioned.

I wriggled my nose, a habit I had acquired when I didn't much want to talk about something, "He was busy, he spends all of his time with his friends these days, shutting me out and none of his friends really like me much, I don't think, they treat me like a kid though I'm actually three and a half minutes older than Harry." I sighed at how childish that actually sounded and played with the bangs that hid the scar on my forehead, "I think everybody forgets that Voldemort tried to kill me too. They think he's the chosen one but for all they know that could be me."

In truth I was very jealous of Harry, all our lives we'd only ever really had each other, at one time we'd have been inseparable and known every last detail about each other, these days I was lucky if I knew where he was. One thing that had never changed though was the way he always helped me with homework, he'd promised me back in first year that he'd read every word to me if that's what I needed but when I had asked him to help with this essay he'd chosen his friends over me.

I didn't know why I couldn't read or spell things right, back when I was a kid and went to a muggle school they'd had a special word for it, I couldn't remember the word and no one here ever mentioned anything like it so I chose to keep it quiet. I didn't people to start calling me stupid like they had before.

"You can't tell anyone about..." I trailed off hoping he'd catch on without me actually having to say it.

"I won't tell anyone," Draco replied but he didn't finish there, I should have known there would be a catch to it, "If you let me tell everyone we're dating." I didn't know what to say, I stared at him in disbelief.

"Why would you want people to think that?" I questioned, it was madness of course. Draco Malfoy could have almost any girl in Hogwarts and he wanted people to think we were an item? It didn't make sense.

"You are Jessica Potter, if people thought we were together it would drive your brother mental!" And give myself and my friends a decent laugh. "It may also get Pansy to lay off me a bit." He mumbled mostly to himself. "So do we have a deal?" I didn't want to say yes but I also really didn't want anyone to know my secret. I knew it had been a mistake trusting that boy, Harry had always insisted he was a slimy little git and of course once again he was right.

"It's just pretend right? I don't have to kiss you or anything gross like that?" I asked, I didn't want him to think people thinking we were dating meant we actually were and wanted it to be very clear that I wouldn't touch him with a six foot pole.

"Not unless you want too." He said, his signature smirk placed firmly on his lips.

I took a deep breathed and sighed it out before looking up at him and nodding, "I will never want too, but we've got a deal."

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 _Ugh I hate first chapters so much D: **~RainbowVeins**_


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